Windows Phone Twitter account launches misguided attack on Android

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Microsoft has started a mud-slinging campaign, this time in an attempt to drive users to Windows Phone. A series of tweets last night from the Windows Phone account targeted users who may have been victims of malware attacks while using Android smartphones resulted in more than a few nasty responses from fans of Google’s mobile OS.

Windows Phone 8 is in need of users and developers. It makes sense that Microsoft would do everything in their power to lure both groups to Windows Phone 8 by any means necessary. When Google found themselves in this same situation, they reached out to developers that were successful on other platforms and sent them free smartphones to test their apps and release them to the Play Store. Given the range of high quality hardware that Microsoft has access to — like the HTC 8X and Lumia 920 — you’d think this would be something Microsoft would try for themselves. Instead, the company has opted to invite users to share horror stories about the perils of using the apparently malware-ridden Android platform in exchange for a free phone.

There are very specific situations under which Android smartphones have had issues with malware. For the majority of Android smartphones though, malware is only an issue if you have root access enabled or the user has installed apps from unverified sources. Neither of these things happen without a multi-step process involving directly handling the smartphone, meaning the owner is aware of the risks they are taking.

Android 2.3 had a vulnerability that allows for a specific kind of exploit called “Gingerbreak” to gain root access to a smartphone without the users knowledge. The vulnerability was patched, but there are still more than 50% of the total Android user base running some variant of Android 2.3. Even so, there are no Android phones being sold in US markets today that have the exploit available to them.

The Twitter popular responded exactly as you would imagine. The #droidrage hastag that Microsoft invited users to share with quickly became filled with counterattacks and further mud slinging. Absolutely nothing productive happened — and the only thing Microsoft managed to accomplish was riling up Android fans.

It seems to me that if you want to convince developers that have been successful on other platforms to spend some time with Windows Phone the last thing you would want to do is send their existing users into a hate-filled frenzy. This seems right on par with the other less professional campaigns Microsoft has been pushing recently in what feels like misguided attempts to bring users to their services.

Setting aside that Microsoft is the last company on the planet that should be pointing out malware as a problem on another platform, I have yet to find a single person who has responded to these marketing attempts positively. Microsoft has the potential here to point out the strengths in their platform over the weaknesses in others, and instead seems resolute in their decision to embarrass themselves in another failed PR attempt.